The chemical and allied products industry employed about 636,000 wage and salary workers in 2002, about 4 percent of the total number employed in manufacturing. Most segments of the industry had substantial numbers of jobs.
Under the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), workers in research and development (R&D) establishments that are not part of a manufacturing facility are included in a separate industry-research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences. However, due to the importance of R&D work to the chemical manufacturing industry, chemical-related R&D workers are discussed in this article even though a large proportion of chemical-related R&D workers is not included in the employment data.